


Teaching

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 14:04:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7847992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louisa teaches Stein how to bake sweeties for his sweetie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teaching

Stein liked to bring baked goods to his girlfriend. Johanna definitely appreciated it too, giving him kisses and a lot of affection both before and after she’d consumed the delicious treats. Chocolate kisses were quite sticky, but Stein didn’t mind it. He’d bought her things from every café in Jorvik (using Louisa as a delivery service, of course), but now he wanted to bring her something new. Something like the chocolate-chip cookie that Louisa was currently munching on.

“You’re not getting any,” said Louisa when Stein walked over to her. She was sitting on an old barrel while she had her snack, having finished her stable chores here for the day.

“I don’t want any,” said Stein.

“Then why are you standing around like a hungry pet?” asked Louisa. She finished off her cookie and then brushed the crumbs off her hands and onto her jeans.

“I was going to ask you where you got it from,” said Stein. “I don’t know of any places around here that sell peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.”

“I made them myself,” said Louisa.

“Woah, you can cook? I guess you really can do anything,” said Stein.

“Everything but see well without these,” said Louisa, tapping her glasses. “And the splits, I can’t do those either. Or cartwheels or handstands.”

“Right. Anyway, could you teach me?” asked Stein. “It would be nice if I could cook things for Johanna.”

“Aww, you wanna bake sweeties for your sweetie? How nice,” said Louisa.

“Yeah, I know, it’s embarrassing,” said Stein.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that, I think it’s really sweet,” said Louisa. “Cooking food for someone is a really romantic gesture.”

“I know,” said Stein. “But I can’t cook well at all. Maybe I am as useless as Johanna used to say.”

“You’re not,” said Louisa. “I’ll teach you. Herman gave me the keys to his house before he disappeared and he said that I can go in there whenever I want. I’m sure he won’t mind us using his kitchen, as long as we don’t burn it down or anything.”

“I don’t think I’ll be that bad,” said Stein, and they both laughed.

“Alright Lemon, you stay out here,” said Louisa to her quarter horse. He was content to just graze in the tiny front yard.

“Will Mr Herman have all the things you need?” asked Stein as they walked into the tiny kitchen.

“Where do you think I made these?” asked Louisa, waving around another cookie. “I practically moved in after Herman asked me to house-sit. I keep the fire going and the pantry stocked, and I keep his bills paid.”

“So that’s why you’ve been working so hard lately,” said Stein.

“Yep,” said Louisa. “I have to feed ten horses and pay bills, and buy food. At least Lisa lets me use her Jorflix account so I don’t have to pay for that.”

“And yet you never complain about money,” said Stein. 

“I like to enjoy life,” said Louisa with a shrug. She began opening cupboards and getting out containers of ingredients, and then grabbed the butter and eggs from the fridge. “So this is what you’ll need to cook those biscuits.” She gestured to the ingredients lined up on the bench.

“That’s a lot of ingredients,” said Stein. “I don’t know if I can remember all of those. How do you remember the recipe?”

“With this,” said Louisa, pulling a recipe book off the shelf and turning pages until she found the right one. On her way past the oven, she bent down to pull a tray out and then turned the oven on. “Take note of that temperature, young apprentice.”

“Why did you turn the oven on now?” asked Stein, looking at the numbers printed next to the knob.

“I preheated it so it’ll stay warm,” said Louisa. “Some recipes require it, and things cook faster that way.”

“Really?” asked Stein.

“I don’t know, my sister knows everything about cooking,” said Louisa. She rummaged through the kitchen drawers and pulled out some measuring cups and spoons, as well as some other cooking implements. Lastly, she pulled out four baking trays and set them down in front of Stein, pushing the butter and baking paper towards him.

“What am I supposed to do with these?” asked Stein, looking very confused.

“Tear off some baking paper, swipe it through some butter, and rub it over the trays,” said Louisa. “Only the top part of the trays, this part.” She tapped the right part.

“Why are there four trays?” asked Stein, looking at the recipe.

“So you can try cooking your own batch,” said Louisa. “Just copy what I do.”

“Do I have to mix it like that?” asked Stein, watching as Louisa folded the choc bits and flour into the mixture later on.

“Yeah but it’s hard,” said Louisa. “You have to get used to the movement.” Stein tried to copy her, though, but his movements were a little less refined.

“Mine doesn’t look like yours,” said Stein, glancing between his thicker mixture and her smoother and shinier one.

“You used a whole cup of peanut butter,” said Louisa. “But at least you read the recipe. That’s the first step towards becoming a good cook.”

“You said that I had to follow the recipe,” said Stein. “And the recipe says to use one cup.”

“I’m not sharing my secrets with you,” said Louisa. “But the cookies should still turn out okay. Johanna will like them, unless she’s allergic to peanuts.”

“I don’t think she is,” said Stein, running his hand through his hair. Louisa smirked at him and then began to laugh.

“What?” asked Stein.

“You had mixture on your hand, you idiot,” said Louisa, still cackling away. She heard cackling outside and glared at the cursed Sunfield chickens right outside the kitchen window.

“Huh? Oh, so I did,” said Stein, chuckling. “My bad.”

“Johanna is going to bust a lung laughing when she sees you,” said Louisa. “You’ve got flour down your front too, you’ll need to change. I told you to wear an apron.”

“I wasn’t wearing that frilly, pink thing,” said Stein, wrinkling his nose up at the offensive piece of fabric on the kitchen table.

“She’d think you looked absolutely adorable,” said Louisa, pinching his cheek. Stein scowled and pushed her away, then grabbed a pinch of flour and flicked it at her. 

Louisa dodged it, then gasped in dismay when she found her mixture with a fresh coating of flour.

“That won’t ruin the batch, will it?” asked Stein.

“Hopefully not,” said Louisa, folding it in too. “Put the cookies in the oven now, and then we should clean up.”

“Alright,” said Stein, watching how she spooned the mixture onto the trays and then copying her. “Wow, cooking is a lot of work.”

“Which is probably why you haven’t done it before,” said Louisa.

“Rude,” said Stein.

“But Johanna knows how much work it is to cook something, so she’ll be delighted to see that you’ve gone to so much trouble for her,” said Louisa.

“Even if it turns out bad?” asked Stein.

“Hey, you do want to prove to her that you can work hard, don’t you?” asked Louisa.

“Yeah,” said Stein.

“Well then, cooking is a great way to do that,” said Louisa. “When you can eventually bake her a roast dinner, she’ll probably propose to you on the spot.”

“Really?” asked Stein, grinning. Louisa giggled.

“Yep,” said Louisa. “And she does love you. Come, we’ll sit at the table and talk while we wait for the cookies to be done.” That said, she put the trays into the oven and then sat down at the table.

“Does she really love me?” asked Stein. “Also, I checked the time so I’ll know when to get the cookies out.”

“Good boy,” said Louisa. “Time is very important when cooking. It could be the difference between a perfect dish and a ruined one.”

“So does she?” asked Stein. Louisa smiled at him.

“Yes, she does,” said Louisa. “Sometimes when she pays me for doing chores, she talks to me about you. How cute you are, and how much she likes your freckles and your pretty eyes.”

“She said that about me?” asked Stein.

“Mm-hm. And she loves how hard you’ve been working lately, even staying late with her and going to all that effort to bring her delicacies from as far away as Valedale,” said Louisa.

“So you didn’t tell her that it was you who went to get it?” asked Stein. Louisa shook her head.

“I’m a good friend,” said Louisa.

“Thanks,” said Stein. “I wouldn’t even be dating her if not for you.”

“Oh, I only gave you a push. It’s not like I had to go through an increasingly elaborate series of events to get you two to fall in love,” said Louisa. “But I will do anything to keep you two together.”

“You’re very determined,” said Stein.

“The Bulldogz have Ricky and Nathalie, I have you and Johanna,” said Louisa. “Only I won’t be weird about it like the Bulldogz.” She shuddered.

“That is a little weird,” said Stein.

“I won’t be weird about it, I promise,” said Louisa. “I’ll just help you two with your relationship. Buy you gifts, remember your anniversary, stuff like that. I know Johanna will but you won’t.”

“Yes I will,” said Stein. “I’ll write it down on my calendar.”

“Well, I’ll remember anyway, just in case,” said Louisa. “Do you want to have cooking lessons every day or would once a week be better for you?”

“Maybe once a week,” said Stein. “I can practice the recipe through the week if it’s okay to use Mr Herman’s kitchen.”

“I’ll supervise,” said Louisa. “Can’t have you burning his house down when I’m supposed to be looking after it.”

“Speaking of, the cookies can be taken out of the oven now,” said Stein. Louisa watched him, then applauded when he put oven mitts on before taking the trays of cookies out of the oven.

“Very good, you even remembered to turn it off,” said Louisa. “Do you mind if I tell Johanna about your little cooking lesson?”

“Yeah, I guess you can tell her,” said Stein. “She’ll probably like that I decided to get cooking lessons so I can cook for her.”

“Yes, she will,” said Louisa. She looked at one of his biscuit trays. “Hey, these don’t look so bad.”

“Really?” asked Stein. “They’re chunkier than yours.”

“Maybe she’ll like chunky cookies,” said Louisa. “Take some out to her now if you want.”

“Don’t we have to clean up?” asked Stein.

“I’ll do that later, you just go feed your girlfriend,” said Louisa. “I have to catch some Sunfield chickens. Again.” She walked away, grumbling about stupid, evil chickens and careless farmers.

Stein put the cookies into a tin and took it over to the stable where Johanna was putting away some tack.

“Hey, Johanna,” said Stein, smiling at the sight of her. He always found himself smiling at the sight of her, and it must have been a goofy grin because Johanna always smiled at him when he did.

“Hello, Stein,” said Johanna. She put the last bridle away and then shut the cupboard door. “What have you got there? And what happened to you?” She laughed at his messy appearace.

“I decided to try cooking for you,” said Stein. “You’ve tried treats from all over Jorvik, so I wanted to surprise you with some new ones.”

“Oh,” said Johanna, and inspected a cookie closely.

“It’s okay, Louisa helped me make them,” said Stein. “She made sure that they’re going to be good. She even picked the egg shell out.”

“I’m glad that you had help,” said Johanna, and laughed. Stein felt a little embarrassed, and shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. Johanna caught it. “But I’m also very glad that you decided to cook something for me. It’s very romantic and I love it and I love you.” She ate the cookie and then hugged him, both of them grinning.

“Heh, I love you too,” said Stein.

“These are pretty good, you should try one,” said Johanna.

“Or we could eat them together,” said Stein. “Come on, take a break, you deserve it.”

“Oh, alright,” said Johanna. She locked the tack cupboard and then took Stein’s hand, walking with him across the stable yard to the larger stable house.

While the two of them sat inside at the kitchen table and drank coffee to go with their cookies, they laughed at the sound of Louisa chasing the Sunfield hens.


End file.
